The present invention relates generally to a refrigerator having an in-door coffee maker.
Refrigerators with water and/or ice dispensing units are well known. Also known are coffee makers that use prepackaged bags or pods of ground coffee beans, or which accept whole coffee beans and include a grinding mechanism to grind a sufficient quantity of beans as needed to brew a desired quantity of coffee.
Coffee makers are known which brew an entire pot of coffee, generally enough for at least 6 to 8 cups of coffee, and also, single serve coffee makers are known, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,914, for people who wish no more than a single cup of coffee, rather than brewing multiple cups at one time. Coffee maker are also know to incorporate coffee bean frinders with the brew chamber, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,658.
A disadvantage of coffee makers is that they require a certain amount of counter space in the kitchen, or are required to be mounted hanging from the underside of an upper cabinet. In some cases, coffee makers have been combined with other counter top appliances, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D340,831, D479,431 and 6,737,620. However, these combination appliances merely take up more counter space. Another disadvantage is that such coffee makers require the user to measure out and dispense a quantity of water to the coffee maker each time a pot or cup of coffee is to be brewed.